For God, Family and Republic

The 1946 Frank Capra classic It's a Wonderful Life is one of my favorite movies. Odds are you have probably seen it! It is right up their with the The Wizard of Oz as far as American icons of classic film are concerned. (BE FOREWARNED, HERE IS IS THE SPOILER or just a refresher!) The plot is simple enough... George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) reaches the depths of despair and longs to throw in the towel. He had attained some measure of success in banking and married his sweetheart Mary (played by Donna Reed). Nonetheless his whole life seems on the verge of collapse. Faced with financial ruin, George feels the pains of failure. An angel helps this compassionate but despairingly frustrated man by showing him what life would had been like if he never existed. Instead, George fails at his attempt to take his own life, and the angel saves him from the icy waters by casting the burden of compassion upon him to make him save another. As he recoups his bearings, he is thankful for all that he has. Bailey counts his blessings after this supernatural epiphany.

The Angel Clarence: Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

[George returns to the bridge where his nightmare began, hoping to bring back his old life]
George Bailey: [praying] Clarence! Clarence! Help me, Clarence! Get me back! Get me back, I don't care what happens to me! Get me back to my wife and kids! Help me Clarence, please! Please! I wanna live again. I wanna live again. Please, God, let me live again.

Not an explicitly Christian movie, but the movie climax comes at Christmas. It is most definitely a family classic. Indirectly, it reminds us that the intangibles—that is to say, faith, family, and good friends are what define and give meaning to life.

George being saved came from divine intervention, and he learned to count his many blessings amidst his turmoil. Our troubled world doesn't often know happily-ever after stories. But for those of faith, we have the assurance that whatever perils come our way in this temporal realm, "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). Our eternal destiny is set, so we should set our sights on the promises of God and His Holiness. It is to easy to forget this reality in the midst of discouragement. The character George Bailey fell down, and God picked him up.

(Psalm 40:1-3, King James Version) I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

(Psalm 69:1-3, King James Version) Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.